Clifford Kubiak, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UC San Diego, has made a prototype device that uses solar energy to split carbon dioxide into separate components of oxygen and carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is a poison, but it's also needed in many industrial processes, and more importantly it can be made into a liquid fuel. This isn't a new concept; it was studied during the last big fuel crisis in the '70s, but abandoned when the crisis eased. This time it's not only important for economics but because of the environmental crisis. The carbon dioxide load must be dramatically reduced, while alternative fuels need to be ramped up.
Professor Kubiak's device can't yet produce enough power from sunlight alone to sustain the process of splitting up the CO2, but with some tinkering, mostly with the material used to make a crucial semiconductor, there's great promise. Here's the full press release from UC Dan Diego.
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